Keep your cool

With tropical storms and hurricanes in the forecast, we all know that our electrical power might be interrupted at some point this summer, and that means goodbye cool air.

While it might be difficult to move around your home without lights, it might be even more difficult to move around without air conditioning. In the worst cases, your air conditioner might even suffer damage during a storm. While Charlie’s Tropic Heating & Air Conditioning is well known for its speedy and reliable service, we also prioritize service calls based on the order in which they were received and the nature of the call.

Whether you’re waiting for your electrical power to be restored or for Charlie’s to arrive to repair your air conditioner, you can still keep your cool as beads of sweat form on your forehead. Let Charlie’s show you how to survive the summer heat by cooling down your home and also yourself.

Cool down your home

• • Close all your window treatments to block the rays of the sun.
  • Open the chimney flue to draw the warm air out of your home.
  • Use your best judgment on cross-ventilation by opening windows on opposite sides of your home. Cross-ventilating on a 100-degree day might make your home even warmer. But if the outdoor temperature is moderate, and it’s breezy, a cross wind could provide some real comfort.
  • Abstain from using your oven or stove, which will produce more heat in your home when you need it the least. And without the benefit of a working fan, you won’t be able to dissipate the heat as usual.

Chill yourself

• • Fill ice packs or make your own homemade compresses with the ice left in your freezer. Wrap as much ice as you can in a piece of cotton fabric about the size of a placemat. Roll it up lengthwise, tucking in the ends, and wrap it with a rubber band. (If you’re out of ice, it might be worthwhile to run to the store to buy a bag and store it in a cooler or even a bathtub.)
  • Take a bath or shower in lukewarm water – and consider drying off the natural way.
  • Change into lightweight, cotton and loose-fitting clothing. Perspiration that forms on this type of clothing should evaporate quickly; by contrast, heavy and tight clothing, or that made of polyester or rayon, traps perspiration.
  • Spend as much time as you can on the lowest level of your home. Just as surely as heat rises, cool air falls.
  • If you’re really feeling overheated, soak a T-shirt with lukewarm water, wring it out and then put it on. Rewet the shirt after it dries. (Lukewarm water will cool you down without inducing a chill that might follow the use of cold water. But if this method is still too chilly for your comfort level, try soaking only the sleeves of the shirt instead.)
  • Soak a bandana or headband with lukewarm water, wring it out and place it on your head.
  • Soak your feet in a bucket of chilly water or a kiddie pool (if it’s not too hot outdoors). The body radiates heat from the head, feet, hands and ears, so you should feel a difference by cooling these regions.
  • Fill water bottles with lukewarm water and apply a mist to your pulse points: your neck, elbows, wrists and ankles. If it’s sweltering in your home – or worse, you feel weak from the heat – apply an ice pack or homemade compress to your pulse points to reduce your internal temperature.
  • Remain hydrated by drinking water and avoiding caffeine and alcohol, which could cause dehydration.
  • Reach for healthy snacks that are full of water, such as grapes, pineapple, raspberries and watermelon.
  • Don’t underestimate the cooling power of spicy foods, especially hot peppers. Residents of the hottest regions in the world eat them for a reason: because they trigger perspiration, which in turn cools down the body as the moisture evaporates.
  • Cover heat-inducing or uncomfortable furniture – especially itchy, scratchy fabrics – with cotton sheets, which will be cooler.
  • Unleash the cooling properties of aloe vera by spreading the lotion on your arms and legs.

It’s true: a Charlie’s air conditioning technician has yet to arrive at a customer’s home to find him wearing a soaked T-shirt while he wades in a kiddie pool and munches on a chili pepper. But then again, the summer is young, power outages loom and we know that many of our customers enjoy chilling out to our ideas – and especially our idea of the best air conditioning service in the Jacksonville area.